Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:35 am  

wire2004 wrote:

Something seems a bit fishy with Justin Holbrooks sudden change of heart. The tickets were booked. Until he talked to his wife apparently. It was 24 hours. What changed in 24 hours. Surely they are not that stupid to have not had the conversation 2 months ago when things started getting vocal and he was being linked to the job then that when Middleton came in with the offer. This is what they would've taken and accepted and all that backroom stuff families talk about.

I've known more than one international career move (not rugby) where everything has been agreed, the person involved plus partner have made a visit to the new country, looked at accommodation etc then, at the 11th hour, everything collapses because the partner has had a change of heart. People agree to things but, when reality kicks in, they get cold feet.

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:41 am  

WireWireWire wrote:

Well if he's such a great leader, and accepts nothing less than 100%, and is doing such a stellar job, why are they mid table? Is everything that goes well atrributed to him, but everything bad is due to failure elsewhere?

Because he is not the head coach who as the final say. I was saying the same about Briers when he was assistant to Price. Then he goes to Wigan and now doing well in Aus. As an assistant I guess it’s how much the head coach lets you get involved. Seem to me that Price kept a lid on Briers.

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:00 am  

[quote="wire2004]
Something seems a bit fishy with Justin Holbrooks sudden change of heart. The tickets were booked. Until he talked to his wife apparently. It was 24 hours. What changed in 24 hours. Surely they are not that stupid to have not had the conversation 2 months ago when things started getting vocal and he was being linked to the job then that when Middleton came in with the offer. This is what they would've taken and accepted and all that backroom stuff families talk about.[/quote]

From what I heard, there is no way Mrs Holbrook was letting her hubby come back to these shores, especially not so close to St Helens.

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:00 am  

morleys_deckchair wrote:

He doesn't get a free pass..... if he can inject intensity and a will to win, into these players... then its more than any of the last few have managed

This. And with the (supposedly) quality of players we have, we should do very well. And couple this with the attacking and creative prowess of Long, I think we have a lot to look forward to.

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:03 am  

Inspired appointment by the Wire.

Can’t wait to see what Sam can do.

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:07 am  

Is Sean Bernard Long joining the party?

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:17 am  

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... pointment/

https://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/sp ... pointment/

[Fantastic Mr Catpiss]

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 9:36 am  

i've got mixed feelings on this, the whole set up.

I'm not a massive fan of the director of rugby position, i can see why people would want it but for me, its just another person to blame when things are going wrong, and whether Chambers is the right person for this, he's very little experience at the top level having primarily specialised in Junior development so far, you would hope that would primarily be his focus, but if stuff starts going wrong his lack of experience will be attacked, and he'll be questioned about his position, and jobs for the boys etc.
Regarding burgess, for him, personally its a bit of a free hit, if he comes over and manages to to change things around, obviously thats a success, if it goes tits up, he can go back to sydney and he wont have his tail between his legs, he'll get accepted back as an assistant somewhere "it was too early" "at least he gave it a go, he'll have developed" it wont derail his career in the nrl one bit.

Its a mental appointment, it certainly is, but outside of holbrook, there was no consensus opinion on anyone else, firstly, i wouldn't want briers or monas back here as coach, the end of days for cullen besmirched his memory here, i dont want to go through that again.

within the NRL, most of the experienced options, all had the stink of failure on them, anyone that had failed as a head coach would have been poop on from day one, i'm not the biggest nrl fan but from looking at twitter and speaking to mates who are, anyone thats been sacked in the last 4 years has a black mark of ''AVOID' over them, even holbrook had it from some on here for his time at gold coast. and to be honest, if we did choose one of them, it would feel the same as when we signed price, he was nowhere in the list of original names and the moment we got linked with him, a lot of people got the 'sour milk' expression.

It was asked why we didn't wait, i dont think that would have made a difference, i think the above would have applied at the end of the season and theres certainly not many in SL you would opt for, plus we would have missed out on potential for recruitment for next year.


Fingers crossed though, it all comes together, now the wire.

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 10:00 am  

Fantastic Mr Catpiss wrote:

i'm not the biggest nrl fan but from looking at twitter and speaking to mates who are, anyone thats been sacked in the last 4 years has a black mark of ''AVOID' over them, even holbrook had it from some on here for his time at gold coast. and to be honest, if we did choose one of them, it would feel the same as when we signed price

I don't think we can compare Holbrook with Price now. Holbrook has a track record of success in the UK achieving in 2 years what Price could not do in 4. He would have been my first choice, and he looks like it was the owners' first choice too.

Anyway Burgess it is, who knows what can happen. Certainly be interesting and all we can do is get right behind him.

Re: New Coach : Wed Aug 09, 2023 11:13 am  

Big raps from Freddy and Joey Johns on Sam this morning. Think it’s about time people got off the toxic train and gave him a chance. The guy is a champion.